Mom faces judge on charge of leaving 10-month-old baby alone

Police find open apartment door, child in crib

A Johnson County mother appeared in court Monday to face charges she left her 10-month-old baby alone while she went out drinking.

Mom faces judge on charge of leaving 10-month-old baby alone

Police find open apartment door, child in crib

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 9:24 PM CDT Jun 15, 2015

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. —

A Johnson County mother appeared in court Monday to face charges she left her 10-month-old baby with special needs alone to go out drinking.

Police came to Cierra Chartier’s apartment in the middle of the night and found the boy alone in his crib. They said Chartier’s neighbors called to report her because she had been banging on their door.

Advertisement

"I just started hearing a lot of screaming and a lot of banging, so I went up to my door and looked out my peephole and there was a lady in the teal shirt and she was yelling at my next-door neighbor," said neighbor Jody Dean.

Police said when they got to Chartier’s apartment, they found the door ajar and the 10-month-old unattended. They said they had no idea how long he had been by himself.

"We made contact with her at that point," said Officer Gary Mason of the Overland Park Police Department. "She was inside a vehicle that didn't belong to her. She was under the influence of some type of either narcotics or alcohol and after our investigation we found out that inside the apartment where she lived, was a one year old special needs child, by himself."

Dean said her own child plays with the boy who was left alone.

"He is just the sweetest thing in the whole wide world," Dean said. “You just don’t do that, because that is your precious – in danger.”

"I don't know anyone would leave their children at home alone," said neighbor Trevor Beck. "Even at six years old, we wouldn't leave (our child) at home alone ever."

Chartier has been charged with endangering a child. Her bail was set at $2,500 and she was released Monday evening.